Accountant fees

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Previous year accountant was charging £500+VAT

This year has gone up to £600+VAT.

Wants to charge £750+VAT next year.....

reasonable or not?

[northernladuk]

SJD are quite a bit more than that and they just put their prices up so if he does a half decent job I would say you are not on a bad crack there even with the hike.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Cheers,

Do you think its worth asking for "extra value" so that basically he can give some extra advice on how to bring down tax etc?

[SueEllen]

Cheers,

Do you think its worth asking for "extra value" so that basically he can give some extra advice on how to bring down tax etc?

You should be asking questions anyway.

If someone mentions something on this board that is very likely to apply to you then you should confirm with your accountant whether it does.

[Olly]

I've been thinking exactly the same thing.

I'm paying £795+VAT. I do my own flat rate VAT and make the payments for PAYE/NIC and CT. I'm sure I could take on a lot more.

My company structure hasn't changed in 3 years and isn't going to. My accounts are all on one s/sheet and I can extract any total for the year an account chooses to ask.
I'm thinking either

a) go it alone completely
b) use some software or online service that automates document production / returns
c) find a "contractor" accountant who recognises all they're basically doing is transposing numbers into a sausage machine and charges appropriately.
d) work with current accountant to fully minimise their involvement and thus fee.
e) find a new accountant who's just plain cheaper, perhaps because they do less.

I tried to write up a list of all the tasks required each year and the dates they need to be completed by but didn't get very far. Perhaps I'll have another look at it soon. At the end of the day £950 is a lot of money and it would have been substantially more if I hadn't said I was going to leave them.

For the work they do now it can't take more than 5 hours a year, a lot of that by quite junior people. Hmm, what's a "fair" fee, £500? If I can work with them to reduce that work to a minimum then I want to see the fee drop too.

[Wanderer]

Previous year accountant was charging £500+VAT
This year has gone up to £600+VAT.
Wants to charge £750+VAT next year.....
reasonable or not?

You would have to consider: What's their justification for the increase? Have your fees risen 20% year on year? Is the accountant doing 20% more work than last year and the year before? How much are their competitors charging?

[lje]

I tried to write up a list of all the tasks required each year and the dates they need to be completed by but didn't get very far. Perhaps I'll have another look at it soon. At the end of the day £950 is a lot of money and it would have been substantially more if I hadn't said I was going to leave them.

I do my own accounts - but then I am numbers oriented and a pedantic! If you have the inclination to do your own then I would suggest that you use something like FreeAgent. It costs £25/month (although you can get a month's trial for free andd 10% discount if you sign up with a code from an existing customer). As well as doing the accounts it also has a list of what activities you need to be undertaking and when they need to be done by. So it will tell you when your VAT/PAYE payment is due, but also when your annual accounts are due, when you should be doing your employer annual return etc. Also, given that all of these things can be done online now I spend around 30 minutes a month on my accounts.

When I first contracted (over 15 years ago now) I wouldn't have dreamt of not having an accountant. But nowadays it is so easy to file things online that I can't imagine what I would pay an accountant to do.

[Bumble79]

I do my own accounts - but then I am numbers oriented and a pedantic! If you have the inclination to do your own then I would suggest that you use something like FreeAgent. It costs £25/month (although you can get a month's trial for free andd 10% discount if you sign up with a code from an existing customer). As well as doing the accounts it also has a list of what activities you need to be undertaking and when they need to be done by. So it will tell you when your VAT/PAYE payment is due, but also when your annual accounts are due, when you should be doing your employer annual return etc. Also, given that all of these things can be done online now I spend around 30 minutes a month on my accounts.

When I first contracted (over 15 years ago now) I wouldn't have dreamt of not having an accountant. But nowadays it is so easy to file things online that I can't imagine what I would pay an accountant to do.

Hi Lje,

I am new to contracting and have been talking to a lot of companies which offers services for setting up limited company and basically do the payroll processing and accounts, etc. All these companies charge somewhere from 120 - 150 pounds a month. I also got a reference of an accountant from a friend who charges 600 pounds a year. But I am totally new to contracting and setting up limited company, and wondering whether to take the services of the companies or just go for an accountant. Any thoughts/advise on this.

Thank you.

[Bugbait]

You should factor in opportunity cost unless you actually enjoy doing your accounts. Personally my wife and I hate it. When I could be bothered to take on ad-hoc work (rarely since I’m lazy and enjoy spending time with my family) I charge upwards of £150/hr depending on client location. Experienced longer term IT contracts in London are easily £300+/day at the low end and over £650/day at the higher end and this doesn’t include the niche and executive jobs that pay over £1000/day. I pay the accountant £75+VAT per month from memory which seems reasonable given I could easily make the money back if I could be bothered. Don’t forget to consider the extra time you loose by “saving” on an accountant. A good one will likely do the same in less time and with greater accuracy.

[jmo21]

For me, the following things are the reasons I'll probably always use an accountant:

- my accountant keeps up with any changes that may affect my company so I do not have to worry about keeping up with stuff like that
- I'd be more likely to make a mistake
- the time I would spend dealing with my accounts, I wouldn't enjoy it, and I'd rather do something else.
- it only costs me currently approx 4 days billing to cover my accountants fees. I'm sure for higher earners this number is way lower, so for peace of mind, I don't think it's expensive at all.